Russian stocks fall on oil price contraction, ruble growth

MOSCOW, Oct 1 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks fell on Thursday due to contraction in oil prices and pressure exerted on ruble-denominated shares by the rising ruble, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.55% to 2,889.80 and the RTS decreased 0.34% to 1,174.49.

“After the opening of our markets, the global indices lost some ground and triggered active contraction in our shares. But Russian indices recovered after that thanks to the growth of global stock indicators. Nevertheless, the oil prices remained under pressure, so our indices experienced a significant dive in the second half of the day,” Dmitry Babin, analyst at investment company BCS World of Investment, said.

The Brent oil price lost 5.34% to U.S. $40.04 per barrel as of 6.42 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“The MOEX Russia Index stayed in the red zone in the first half of the day. The Russian currency exerted pressure on the ruble-denominated shares, as it grew to as high as 77 rubles per U.S. dollar today. Moreover, we would note another day of weakness of the oil price on worries about demand shrinking during the coronavirus restrictions,” Andrei Kochetkov, Otkritie Broker’s lead analyst for global research, said.

Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that ordinary shares of oil company Surgutneftegas were among the gain leaders rising by 1.86% to 35.33 rubles without any noticeable fundamental reasons for that.

Shares of steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) remained flat at 172 rubles, and technical indicators show no signals for switching into correction from the upward trend. The correctional downward potential in the shares is limited by 166.50 rubles, Kozhukhova said. 

Below are the MOEX Russia Index’ five most active stocks on Thursday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.13	228.85	15.482
Gazprom	-0.92	168.40	9.379
Surgutneftegas	+1.86	35.33	6.679
Yandex	-2.06	4957.80	5.246
Lukoil	-1.44	4405.50	4.240

(78.7847 rubles – U.S. $1)

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